SPORTS UTILITY VEHICLE OWNERSHIP DOUBLES IN LONDON UNDER LABOUR - TEATHER

6.09.48pm GMT Tue 18th Oct 2005

Liberal Democrat MP for Brent East, Sarah Teather has today revealed that the number of Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) in London has doubled since Labour came to power.

One in every seven cars bought in London are SUVs, with Londoners buying more SUVs than anywhere else in the country.

Only last week the British Medical Journal called for health warnings to come with SUVs to highlight the increased dangers they pose to pedestrians,

According to the European rating system for safety, known as NCAP, only three out of 16 of the SUVs tested have a pedestrian safety rating of more than one out of four stars.

Liberal Democrat MP for Brent East, Sarah Teather, said:-

"Sports Utility Vehicles in London are a growing and serious problem putting pedestrians and other road users at increased risk. The more Londoners thirst for SUV's continues the greater the risk to life on the capitals roads.

"With road space at a premium in the capital both the Mayor and the Department of Transport must develop ways of reducing the number of these type of bulky vehicles on our roads.

"The Department of Transport must now classify Sports Utility Vehicles as a separate entity so we can start to deal with them. A short term measure would be to double the congestion charge on these vehicles. In the long term we need a road-pricing scheme based on how polluting your vehicle is and when and where it is driven."